#back in february my brain high on covid painkiller decided that writing this was a good idea

[miabrown007]

The Art of Giving Your Best Friend Platonic Hickeys

"So, I've read this Tumblr post," Marinette said.   Now, at this point in time anyone with the tiniest bit of common sense would have cocked a skeptical eyebrow and backed away from this conversation as fast as their neurotypical legs would carry them.  Chat Noir — against all expectations — peered an eye open. "What did it say?" "It said, and I wholeheartedly agree, that it's okay to have a little crush on your friends.” *** aka Marinette and Chat Noir rent out a hotel room for clowning purposes

The Art of Giving Your Best Friend Platonic Hickeys (1999 words, 1/1 chapters, Teen)

"I've always wanted to try this!" Marinette giggled as soon as the door banged shut behind her.

"Renting out a hotel room with a friend for the heck of it?" Chat Noir asked. His voice was amused but he didn't pay much mind to her, ogling the double bed of their room challengingly as he was.

Marinette threw herself on the comforter without a second thought. "Renting out a hotel room with my best friend for the heck of it!" she corrected.

His face lit up like a toddler's on Christmas as he followed suit, jumping on the bed with all his might. "And I've always wanted to try this!"

"You can do better than just throwing yourself in the sheets, you know," Marinette laughed and gave the bed an experimental bounce.

"Oh, I'm aware," Chat drawled, his mischievous eyes flashing at her as he started springing up and down on the mattress in earnest. "I'm just getting started here."

"That's good, because the night is also only getting started," Marinette countered, holding his gaze for the exact millisecond it took her to get ideas before she threw her head back with a hearty laugh.

And then they did other things one or both of them had always wanted to try, like ordering an unholy amount of ice cream from the room service and feeding it to each other blindfolded, until — in some inexplicable, mysterious way — it ended up in Chat Noir's hair. After that there were no more excuses to avoid trying out the lavender-scented bath bombs they found in the vanity because he had to wash his hair anyway.

Marinette sat on the carpet cross-legged with her back to the bathroom's door, scrolling away on her phone while keeping up a conversation with Chat Noir over the sound of running water.

It was casual.

However, she got so engrossed in a post, she didn't even notice the silence and the approaching footsteps. Chat Noir opened the door and she fell, her back meeting the tiles before he could have caught her.

"Auch, are you okay?" he asked, pulling her to her feet.

“Yeah, I just got distracted,” Marinette said. She gave a once over to him, a smirk tugging on her lips as she went over to sit on the bed. “Cute PJs, by the way.”

“Wearing Ladybug pyjamas is very professional in my line of business, I’ll have you know,” he nodded proudly. He followed her like a shadow and just when she finally found a comfortable position — one-leg pulled under herself — he laid his head on her lap.

“Your hair is all wet,” Marinette complained, albeit making no effort to change the situation.

She grazed her nails over the spot behind his ear — the human one, not the cat one, that would have been weird — the way she knew he liked it. (Although, the weird part was probably the fact that even detransformed and with only a black textile mask to conceal his identity, Chat Noir felt the need to put on a headband accessorised with cat ears. She didn’t comment on that, though — who was Marinette to judge a friend’s self-expression.)

Evidently enjoying the head-scratches, Chat Noir let his eyes drift shut.

"So, I've read this Tumblr post," Marinette said.

Now, at this point in time anyone with the tiniest bit of common sense would have cocked a skeptical eyebrow and backed away from this conversation as fast as their neurotypical legs would carry them.

Chat Noir — against all expectations — peered an eye open. "What did it say?"

"It was a very insightful analysis on platonic relationships, actually," she continued. She ran her fingers through his damp hair and fiddled with the untamable locks.

Chat Noir made a purring sound. "And what did it say about platonic relationships?"

Why Marinette didn’t feel like using the word ‘friendship’ in the first place, she couldn’t quite explain. At any rate, she proceeded to avoid doing so. "It said — and I wholeheartedly agree — that it's okay to have a little crush on your friends. That you can be attracted to them, and that's fine. Because nothing has to come from it. And I think that's really neat."

[read the whole fic on AO3]

@marichatmay, @miraculousfanworks, @discoveringmiraculouswriters